The Prelude
by JosephineSilver
Summary: AU. In which Percy is a Sighted mortal, and demigods are nothing like we believe. Prelude to a possible future story. See profile for details.
1. Chapter 1

T

OneshoT.  
TITLE: The Prelude.  
RATING: T, for paranoia.  
WHAT: AU. In which Percy is a Sighted mortal, and demigods are nothing like we believe. Prelude to a possible future story. See profile for details.  
WHY:Because this idea has been floating around in my head for a while.  
AUTHOR NOTES: 1) un-beta'd. All mistakes are mine, which leads us to: 2) I have never been to NY. I have no idea what it looks like, how the streets are layed out, NOTHING. So, I'm sorry if I offend anyone in my ignorance.  
DISCLAIMER: If it looks like a fanfiction, and it talks like a fanfiction, and it's on a fanfiction website; it's obviously a fanfiction. In short? Me no own.  
DEDICATION: to Cameron, for buying me throat lozenges. And for putting up with me today when I threw a Nintendo DS at you. And for the chocolate. And stuff.  
(I love you)

Onto the fic!

-X-

All his life, Percy - Perseus, his family would insist, glancing anxiously around themselves, as if they expected to be smote down - Jackson had been taught that one thing, above all, was Law.

_Never let Them know about your Sight. Their Gods will blind you. Kill you, maybe_.

He had heard the stories first when he was a little kid. One of his ancestors had done something that pleased the sea god, Poseidon, greatly. As a reward, the god granted him the gift of True Sight; the ability to see through the Mist.

And his ancestor had passed it on through the generations - something the gods were not pleased about.

_If they were to find us_, his family always said,_ we would be killed_.

_But why?_ He would question, baffled.

_Because we are mortals_, the answer would always come. _To_ t_hem, we are weak and worthless, yet we know too much. We are a liability_.

So, they hid.

In plain sight, that is.

Percy (fine, Perseus, but they'd only named him that to semi-appease the gods if they ever found out - then again, since his Sight came from Poseidon, maybe he should be glad he didn't get stuck with Theseus or Orion) had always lived with his family in an old townhouse on the east side of the city.

His family included his mother, his batty old uncle, his grandparents, his aunts, and his cousin. Small, but big at the same time.

He tensed ever so slightly as he made his way up the sidewalk to the old brownstone building he called home - a girl was leaning casually against the front gate, and a faint shimmer surrounded her, like a heat mirage.

She was a demigod.

Heart pounding harder than before - why was there one outside his house, why? - he nearly ran up the steps and into the house, but forced himself to remain cool and calm as he walked up to the front door.

That was one of the first lessons he had been taught - how to pretend he didn't see what he saw. How to act; specifically, how to not _react_.

Once inside, he closed the door, locked and bolted it, then leant his head against the cool mahogany, breathing out heavily through his nose.

His cousin Thalia came up behind him.

"Hey, you okay?" She asked with a frown; concerned.

Percy wanted to answer, but knowing that for some obscure reason that a demigod was standing outside of his house awakened his genetic paranoia.

Subtly, he tilted his head an infinitesimal degree, directing the apex of his skull towards the front door.

Thalia's thickly lined eyes widened.

_Them_? She mouthed.

He nodded.

She paled. "What do you think They want?" She whispered.

"Could just be a coincidence, It being outside our house," he murmured back, lips barely moving.

Thalia snorted. "No such thing, cuz," she reminded him.

-X-

The heat was getting to Annabeth.

This mission was meant to be routine - convince the mother to adopt the kid out once it was born, sign the papers, and voila! The small demigod was the property of the Schola. It could be trained there - to fight, to survive, to hunt.

Whenever a mortal woman conceived a child with a god, an alert went out at the Schola, and a senior student went out to make sure the child would be raised right - mortals could never supply everything a demigod needed.

Speaking of mortals, one was coming by right now, dressed in all black and slouching, so Annabeth couldn't see his face.

Did the pathetic human in front of her know that there was a demigod standing right there next to him - a far-more-than-human girl who could crush him in an instant?

No, of course he didn't. His kind were to thick, to slow and dumb, to see what was right in front of them. And if it wasn't for the demigods like Annabeth, who hunted down literal Nightmares, they would all be dead.

Sighing to herself, Annabeth admitted why she was so upset.

She'd failed.

The woman - Cara, another of Hermes' lovers - had blatantly refused to give up her child. She hadn't even considered the ten mil that had been placed, gift wrapped, in front of her.

No, that would have been far too easy.

With a single, deft movement, Annabeth flicked her phone open and pressed one.

"We're going to have to cradle snatch it," she spoke before Chiron could. "The idiot mortal wouldn't give it up."

"Annabeth," Chiron said in what the daughter of Athena liked to think of as his lecture tone. "You are part 'idiot mortal'."

Annabeth shuddered in disgust. "Please, Chiron, don't remind me."

Chiron was silent on the other end if the line for a long moment, and Annabeth couldn't shake the feeling that she had done something to greatly upset and/or disappoint her mentor.

Finally, he spoke again. "I guess you'll just have to pay her another visit in nine months," he sounded depressed at the prospect.

"What's wrong, Chiron?"

"Another child taken away from their family...another grieving mother...I'm far too old for this."

The line cut off.

-X-

Percy and Thalia were sitting in the kitchen when their aunt Cara walked in, glowing.

Almost like...like the aura of magic that surrounded a demigod.

Percy heard Thalia's strangled gasp at the same time that his eyes automatically fell to his aunt's slightly swollen midsection, which was where the magic was originating from.

"Hi, guys!"she smiled at them.

They just stared at her, wide-eyed.

Thalia leant into Percy. "I think I figured out why there was a demigod outside," she whispered.

.**_fin_**.

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	2. THIS STORY IS NOW BEING CONTINUED!

_**Hey, y'all! Josephine here!**_

Just wanted to let you guys know that I'm continuing this story - in a multi-chap called 'Gods & Monsters'

Here be the link! It's set about seven months after this oneshot, which is really a kind of prologue, I guess.

www•fanfiction•net/s/9816146/1/Gods-Monsters


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